The Boy and the Man
by TipsyKitsune
Summary: The boy doesn't know what to think anymore. He was so happy when he met the man. When did it all go wrong? One-shot. Warning: child abuse, mentions of human trafficking, mentions of prostitution


**WARNING: Child Abuse, Mentions of Human Trafficking, Mentions of Prostitution**

**This is in no way a happy fic. Please turn around if you don't prefer to read anything listed above.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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* * *

x-X-x

* * *

The young boy looks up at the man. The man doesn't look like much. He wears simple clothes: a clean pair of black pants, a suede jacket, and a black fedora. Snow lies gently across the hat like a blanket.

The man smiles down at the young boy. The boy doesn't look like much. He wears simple clothes: a worn pair of gray cargo pants, a white shirt, and a dark orange jacket. Dirt stains the boy's whiskered face and blond hair.

"Hello there. Who might you be?"

The boy's eyes widen when he realizes he is being spoken to. He shies away, trying to hide against the dumpster behind him. No one has ever talked to him before. At least, no one has tried to talk to him ever since he was kicked out of the orphanage.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

The man holds out his hand and gives another gentle smile. The boy stares at the hand for what seems to be hours until the man withdraws it once again. His smile falters just a bit but doesn't fall.

"Who are you?"

The boy's voice comes out more like a mouse's squeak. It cracks a bit, displaying his intense anxiousness and his voice's disuse. He hasn't talked to another person in a very long while.

"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Wazawa. Pleased to meet you."

The man's smile never wavers as he watches the boy crawl towards him slowly. He is like a dog inspecting a stranger. It makes sense, though. The man is a new person to the boy.

"It's cold tonight. I don't live too far away. Would you like to come back with me? It will be warmer than out here."

The boy's eyes widen once again. This man is not afraid of him. This man wants to talk to him. This man would share his warmth. The boy squeezes his eyes shut and vigorously shakes his head. He cannot trust the man.

The man seems hurt as the boy turns around and speeds off into the darkness of the alley. Despite the refusal, he isn't worried. He will be back.

* * *

x-X-x

* * *

The boy stares out the window. The petals of the cherry blossom tree are falling to the ground. The glass reflects the image of the man as he brings out a tray of sandwiches.

The man offers the boy the lunch. Every week, he came back to the alleyways looking for the boy. He brought gifts: snacks, clothes, books, and more. The hope that glimmered in the boy's blue orbs brightened with every visit.

The boy feels happy. He has found someone who is willing to talk to him, to care for him, and to make him feel loved. He isn't entirely sure what love is, but if this is it, he doesn't want it to ever go away. The boy doesn't want the man to disappear.

The man frowns a bit as the boy bites into his second sandwich. After taking the boy home, he gave him new clothes and a warm bed. The boy is no longer covered in dirt. His image now reflects his clean innocence.

"What's wrong?"

The boy notices that something is wrong. The man is never upset. The man is strong. If the boy had a father, he imagines that the man is exactly how he would want his father to be.

"Whatever would give you that idea?"

The man puts on a smile, yet it looks very forced. The boy's face crinkles up in worry as he thinks of how to respond.

"You are frowning. You never frown."

The boy watches the man's reaction. He is surprised. Perhaps, he is surprised because the boy notices something that the man thinks that he wouldn't. The boy hopes the man isn't angry with him.

"You caught me. I was just thinking how it would be nice to have a son just like you. Unfortunately, since you have no papers, I cannot adopt you."

The man judges the boy's reaction. His eyes grow to the size of saucers.

"Y-you w-w-w-want t-to a-d-d-d-dopt me?"

The boy is ready to cry. He is unbelievably astonished and can already tell that tears are gathering. No one has ever wanted him before. This man wants to take him in. This man is looking for a son. This man can give him love. The boy takes a few deep breaths and speaks up again as warm liquid cascades down his cheeks.

"I want you to be my tou-chan."

The man is giddy. The boy wants the man as much as the man wants the boy. His life will be improving now. He pats the son on the head.

The son looks up at the father. He now has a father.

* * *

x-X-x

* * *

The father gathers his things and puts them in the bag. He peeks into the room next door to check on the son. The father has a job he must do in another city so must take the son to stay with his associate.

The son steps out of the room. He does not have many belongings, but he cherishes everything that the father has given him. In his pack, he carries not much but his clothes and a couple books that he enjoys reading. Although he is moving, the son hopes that he will have time to read on the road.

The father leads the son out of the house for the final time. The son will never be returning to this place. They exit the village and travel on the dirt road. While the son walks by his side, the father holds onto the son's hand tightly.

The son is excited. He has never set foot out of the village before. Now he is going on an adventure to a new place with the father. He may miss the village, but wherever the father is, that is surely where the son belongs.

The father walks for a very long time. He is probably on the road for a week before he can finally see his destination. The large town spreads out, almost filling the entire horizon.

The son gapes. The city looks like it could be larger than his previous village. He follows the father as he walks towards the gates. The father has explained to the son how his work requires him to travel a lot. His previous village was only a temporary stay. Now he must leave the son in this new city so that he can move on to the next location of work.

The father remembers how the son begged to be taken along. Even though the father insisted the son shouldn't come along, the son wanted to join the father in his journeys. The only way the son had settled down was to convince the son that his associate was nice and to promise many souvenirs.

The son feels a bit uncomfortable. The weird ladies who don't wear enough clothes and the creepy red lanterns that hang at every shop door are not exactly his cup of tea. He does not understand why the father insists that he come here.

The father knocks on the back door of a shop with a red lantern. The door slides open to reveal the lady. She is barely wearing her kimono while smoking a pipe. The lady stares down at the son.

"This is him?"

The son is anxious. He doesn't like the lady very much. She looks at him with those eyes that are always judging. The father never looks at him with those eyes.

"Yes, this is Haji."

The father had told the son that he always wanted to name his son Haji. When the son had accepted the father as his father, he took on the new name. The son is happy to use the new name. He always thought that his previous name just came from the orphanage people.

"Come here Haji."

The son inches towards her with a light push from the father. He turns his head back at the father with an unsure glance. The lady grabs his face roughly in her hand and seems to glare at every inch of him before letting him go.

"He is acceptable. I'll take him."

The father smiles. He kneels down in front of the son and pats him on the head.

"You be good now. I'll come visit as much as I can."

The son smiles back. The father will come visit. The lady does not seem nice, but the father says it isn't good to judge people. The lady will get nicer. The lady thinks he's acceptable. The son follows the lady into the shop, and the door slides closed behind him.

* * *

x-X-x

* * *

The lady has given the son a room to stay in. It is his room, yet it doesn't feel right. There is no issue with the size although it is roughly half the size of the room his father had gifted him. Rather, it is the fact that the lady always gives him visitors and forbids him from leaving unless for bathing.

The son can't understand why exactly the lady does this. However, he knows one thing: the visitors are not always nice and are always men. These men are different from the father. Despite some being nice, the majority are cruel to the son. They make him hurt in ways he did not deem possible in the past.

The lady always tells him that it is alright. It is acceptable to have guests like these men. Even though he tells her that he is hurting, the lady ensures him that he is doing his job as host well. Every night, she brings him dinner and tells him what a good job he did that day.

The son doesn't really understand the lady. The son doesn't really understand these men. The son only understands one fact: if he wants to live at this place, if he wants the father to be able to find him again, he must do what the lady wants him to do.

The lady wants him to treat these men well. If it means that he can stay where the father knows he is, he will gladly do it.

The son doesn't want to let the lady down. Also, the son doesn't want to let the father down. Finally, the lady insists that the son doesn't want to let these men down.

The lady tells him that he does a good job. Whether it's following the demands of these men, such as "suck" or "swallow", or just lying there as these men take pleasure in what they do, the son will do it for the sake of seeing the father again.

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x-X-x

* * *

The son misses the father. He doesn't know how long he has been at this place, but he wishes that he is traveling the world with the father instead. Being outside is probably more exciting than staying in the room every day and only getting to meet visitors who have been outside. He decides to express his displeasure to the lady during dinner tonight.

"I want to go outside."

The lady gives him a look that says that she does not understand.

"Why? Don't you like being here?"

The son tries to find a way to explain that he appreciates that the lady takes care of him but that he does not like always being in the room. If he leaves the room, maybe he will get to meet fewer visitors as well. The son's mouth opens and closes like a koi fish, yet he cannot find the words to express his feelings. Instead, he merely shakes his head.

"Well, you can't go outside. It's too dangerous, especially at night."

The lady will never let the son know that she is afraid of losing him to a competitor. His foreign looks attract many to this place, and she isn't about to lose a great source of income.

"But-"

The son wants to leave, but the stern look the lady gives him convinces him to keep his mouth shut. If only he had the confidence to stand up to the lady. Instead he looks anywhere but her glaring eyes.

"No. You are not leaving. Is that clear?"

The lady watches the son's eyes flit around as if looking for something. His eyes settle on a book that is lying atop the one piece of furniture in the room.

"I want to go outside!"

The son is reminded that the father is strong when he sees the book the father had gifted him. It gives him strength that he didn't have before to say what he wants to say.

The lady abruptly stands, pulling the son to his feet. She proceeds to slap him before using her leg to push him on the ground. Then, she kicks him and yells.

"You are not to leave! Do you understand me?!"

The son withstands the kick although it's aimed for his bottom that always hurts due to the nightly visitors. He has felt pain before, but that was before the father had found him and made him his.

The lady finally lets up after a while and storms out of the room. She doesn't wait for the son to respond and takes the dinner away with her. Now the son will go hungry tonight even though the visitors always cause him to expend much energy.

The son watches the door close and lock with a key that only the lady has. Little would he know that this is only the start to his pain for a very long time.

* * *

x-X-x

* * *

The father comes to visit the son after what feels like a decade has passed. He bears gifts from the many places he has traveled. Because the father knows the son very well, he knows that what the son will appreciate the most is books detailing the places he has been.

The son looks overjoyed to see the father. He gives him a large hug, not noticing how the father does not hug back and only pats him on the head. When given the tomes, the son is ecstatic, exclaiming as loudly as possible that the father is the best.

The father doesn't want to spend too much time with the son. He explains how he can only be there for a short amount of time. Whatever the son wants to talk about, he should say now before the father must leave once again.

The son is suddenly nervous. Does he want to tell the father what the lady makes him do? Even today when the father visits, the father must come to his room instead of the son being allowed to leave. He decides that he wants to tell the father how he feels.

"The lady makes me do things I don't want to do Tou-chan."

The father is surprised. Usually the son does not openly express his feelings. This must be a new development from his time spent at this place.

"What do you mean?"

The son hesitates for just a bit. Is he really sure that he should explain what is going on to the father? He decides that he should.

"She doesn't let me go outside this room, but she lets weird men visit me all the time. I don't like what the men do when they visit either. And, sometimes, she hurts me too."

The father blinks and then blinks again. The son is complaining about something quite out of his control. He will never admit that he is the one to set the son up for this situation in the first place.

"I'm sure she has your best interests at heart. What did she tell you?"

The son racks at his brain, trying to remember what it is that she had said that night which felt like forever ago.

"That it's dangerous?"

The father puts his hand on the son's shoulder and looks him in the eyes with a seemingly caring face. Is it actually that caring? Not really.

"Exactly. She isn't wrong in the slightest. This place can get dangerous, especially at night. Now I want you to listen to her and don't give her anymore trouble alright? I have to go soon, but I want you to remember I will be back, so be good until then."

The son allows the father to pat him on the head before leaving the room. Clutching his new books tightly to his chest, the son hears the father and the lady talk. Their voices are slowly fading away as the lady escorts the father out. He decides to listen to the father. The father is strong and knows what's best. The son guesses he has to stay with the lady longer. He later realizes that he had wanted to ask the father to take him on his next trip.

* * *

x-X-x

* * *

The son doesn't know how it had happened. He feels fine, yet there are little red dots appearing on his hands and feet. There are even some on his stomach. What are they, and how does he get rid of them? When the lady comes in with dinner, he has to ask her.

"Can you look at these weird dots please?"

The lady gives him a puzzled stare until he shows her the places on his body that the little red dots are. She goes wide eyed and grabs him by the hand. Not a word is spoken between the lady and the son.

The son is now worried that something was deathly wrong with him. The lady has purposefully dragged him out of the room. He doesn't remember the last time he has ever been outside, but the next thing he knows, he is flung against the wall of the neighboring building. The door to the place slides shut.

The lady has never acted like that before. Why is he outside? Hasn't she deemed it too dangerous for him to be outside?

The son walks up to the door, knocking as loud as he can and screaming for the lady to come back. When no one appears, he backs away slowly from the door. The lady has kicked him out he realizes. He is free from the place. Yet, he remembers his gifts from the father that are still inside the room, and so he pounds on the door once again, praying that it may open.

The lady never opens the door.

* * *

x-X-x

* * *

The son is not good at keeping track of time. It may have been a few months or a few years since he has stepped foot in the place. After the lady left him in the street, he began to wander around aimlessly. There is nothing for the son to eat, so he finds himself often digging through dumpsters and fighting stray animals for the food they rightfully found.

The snow begins to layer the ground in a nice, soft blanket. Unfortunately for the son, the ground is cold and hard. It will never be warm or accepting. Even the red snow that feels the warmth of the lanterns is not enough.

The son lies down against a wall. The only cover is a small cardboard box he has begun to call a home. When is the last time he has been in a real home? He does not remember.

The snow bites at his toes although he no longer can feel them. It isn't just the cold that prevents him. He has lost the ability to move his feet, making his main mode of transportation crawling on his hands and knees.

The son knows that he probably does not have much time left. It is hard to move, and he feels like it gets harder and harder to remember things every day. He is not sure if it is because of the cold, the mundaneness of his life, or some sort of sickness.

The man approaches the son who is cowering to the ground. Although he as grown quite a bit, he remembers the whiskered face and blond hair that are once again stained with dirt.

The son looks up and sees the man. His mind is telling him that it is someone important. He thinks and thinks and thinks, and finally, he is rewarded with an answer. The man is the father. He is so excited that the father has come back. It must be that the father has been looking for him all this time.

The man watches the son reach out his hand towards him. However, he just shakes his head and turns around. He has no use for a dying boy. His business is booming, and there are plenty of replacements. He is sure that his associate has already requested another two or three.

The son is heartbroken when the father turns his back. Hurt, which the father cannot see, flashes through the son's eyes. His hand once again falls limp against the snow. Didn't the father want to take him in? Didn't the father want a son? Doesn't the father want to give him love? A realization strikes the failing mind. Perhaps the father never wanted those things at all. Is that why the man is now disappearing? They are not the son and the father. They are only the boy and the man.

The man doesn't give a second look to the boy who is lying in the dark alleyway. His boots leave footprints in the snow that lead ever away. Despite everything he has done for the boy, the man feels no remorse. He will never be back.

* * *

x-X-x

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**A/N**

**I got this idea a few weeks ago when I realized some fics sugarcoat prostitution and ended up doing a sort of back and forth style of writing with it. The writing may be choppy, but the purpose of that was to convey how off the situation felt. Nothing was ever really explicitly mentioned since it was from the boy's perspective and he didn't understand exactly what was going on. **

**It's important to note that human trafficking is very real and can occur anywhere. Please be make sure your children are safe at all times!**

**And if you are wondering, yes the boy contracted syphilis. **

**Thanks for reading!**

**\- TK**

Name Translations:

Wazawa - Calamity  
Haji - Dirt

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Updated: 9/1/20


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